Heavener rallies to beat Hartshorne

By CRAIG HALL

HARTSHORNE – The uniforms were familiar, but the play wasn’t for Heavener as the Wolves traveled to old rival Hartshorne Friday night in the 70th meeting between for the two schools.

The Wolves wore gold helmets, and white jerseys and pants.

But unlike so many times before, when things got tough Friday night, Heavener didn’t fold up, but instead showed guts and fight that has been missing for many years.

Heavener eventually defeated Hartshorne, 36-26.

But that wasn’t the big story.

It was Heavener’s first win at Hartshorne since 2004 and coupled with last year’s win over the Miners, gave the Wolves two straight wins over Hartshorne since 2003 and 2004 before any players on this year’s team were born.

The Wolves could have folded several times, but didn’t. Hartshorne took a 14-0 before four minutes were gone off the scoreboard clock.

Heavener used a couple of big plays to get back in the game. Quarterback Jackson Clubb scored on a 65-yard run on the last play of the first quarter before Jaxon Armstrong went 90 yards for a touchdown for the second straight week. After Clubb’s 2-point PAT run, the score was knotted at 14.

The teams traded touchdowns until 6:07 left, Armstrong gave the Wolves the lead for good on an 18-yard run and after the successful PAT, Heavener has a 29-26 lead.

Hartshorne was forced to punt on its next possession and the Wolves put a seal on the win as P.J. Riddley scored from 1-yard out, after his long run set up the score. Then, on Hartshorne’s final drive, Clubb intercepted his third pass of the season and what started off as a stormy evening where the game was delayed by 15 minutes due to a lightning storm, was over.

Heavener only completed two passes for 40 yards, including one to Armstrong on the final play before halftime. But the Wolves torched the Miners on the ground, having three players rush for over 100 yards each behind a line that opened huge holes throughout the night.

The Wolves finished with 489 yards rushing on 40 carries. Riddley led the way with 198 yards on 19 carries, Armstrong added 154 on 8 carries and Clubb went for 123 yards on 11 rushes.

The win gave Heavener a 2-1 record in the non-district part of the Wolves’ schedule as they head into a bye next week before hosting Valliant on Sept. 22 for the district opener and Heavener’s homecoming.

Score by quarters

HEA 6 8 8 14–36

HAR 14 0 6 6–26


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author avatar
Craig Hall
Publisher and owner of Heavener Ledger and leflorecountyjournal.com